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The glaring code violations discovered at Nature's Watch should compel county officials to address the gap in building code inspections, especially when it comes to waterproofing work.
Residents of Nature's Watch in northeast Pinellas County have been repeatedly clobbered by bad news since their townhouses began falling apart several years ago because of water intrusion. But last week's blow was truly crushing: The owners of the 182 units there learned they will have to pay a total estimated $92,000 each to repair the damage.
Every unit owner already faced a court-ordered assessment of $28,000 for repairs, an amount that had them dipping into retirement savings, emptying their children's college funds and, in a few cases, facing foreclosure on their homes. Now confronted by the very real possibility of bankruptcy, Nature's Watch residents are picketing courthouses, demanding that the county government some feel abandoned them and the judge who ordered the assessments do something to save them.
Pinellas County government now has begun responding in ways it should have months ago. Top building officials visited the community a few days ago to check out allegations that, aside from the water damage, the townhouses are riddled with building code violations that should have been caught by inspectors as Nature's Watch was built between 1991 and 1996. County Administrator Steve Spratt also surveyed the damage and spoke with residents, and pledged to work harder and more creatively to find some way to help.
County government has been skittish about getting involved at Nature's Watch, in part because some residents have said they plan to sue the county. Spratt even staunchly defended his Building Department after four construction experts he brought in from other parts of Florida examined documents and declared that Pinellas inspectors did everything the law required at Nature's Watch.
But additional information reported April 28 by St. Petersburg Times staff writer Robert Farley raised new questions that county officials would be irresponsible to shrug off.
An engineer hired under order of the court as an objective third party examined the buildings and the project paperwork. He not only confirmed that the water damage at Nature's Watch is substantial, but also that construction is so shoddy and so many code violations exist that the structures may be unsafe for residents. "This is a life-safety issue," Robert Reinhart wrote in his detailed, 27-page report.
Unlike the four experts Spratt brought in to review the county's performance at Nature's Watch, Reinhart actually visited the community and looked into test cuts made in the walls of the buildings. Spratt's experts examined only the paper trail and didn't visit the property. How much stock should be put in their assessments?
The new information should compel county officials to react quickly to address the alleged safety hazards and slipshod inspections. Spratt says he is now developing an action plan to present to the County Commission.
One issue needs a broader response. Extreme moisture-intrusion problems at Nature's Watch and more recently at several other Pinellas complexes call attention to a gap in the building code that warrants statewide review. The code requires builders to use certain waterproofing techniques in constructing a building, but the code does not call for an inspection of the waterproofing work. The result is that relatively new buildings are leaking like sieves, creating health, safety and financial problems for residents. Given Florida's wet climate, waterproofing seems vital enough to justify a special inspection.